10. At the elections of Mayors throughout England and Wales, the Duke of Devonshire was elected at Eastbourne, the Marquis of Exeter at Stamford, Earl Fitzwilliam at Sheffield, Lord George Hamilton at Deal, and Mr. Justice Phillimore at Kensington. Mrs. Garrett Anderson was re-elected Mayor of Aldeburgh after some opposition.

Announcement that Admiral Sir John Fisher and Sir Arthur Godley, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for India, had been made Barons of the United Kingdom.

A new translation of the Athanasian Creed was issued, effected by a Committee appointed by the Primate, as suggested by the Lambeth Conference of 1908. The chief changes were the substitution of "infinite" for "incomprehensible" in vv. 9 and 12, "let him thus think" for "must thus think" in v. 28, "reasoning" for "reasonable" in v. 32, and "have believed" for "believe" in v. 42.

13. At Paris, after ten days' trial, Madame Steinheil was acquitted by nine votes to three of the charge of murdering her husband and her mother in her house on May 30, 1908. The murder had attracted great attention, partly from her accusation successively of her man-servant, her cook, and a party of burglars, and from the efforts of the Prosecutor and the presiding Judge to secure a conviction. These efforts, with her own conduct in court, gained her much sympathy. After much persecution by journalists, she found a hiding-place in England.

At Ahmedabad, a bomb was thrown at the Viceroy's carriage. (See Foreign and Colonial History, Chapter VI.)

At Cherry, Illinois, an explosion and fire in the St. Paul's mine cut off upwards of 300 miners; about twenty-five escaped; six rescuers perished. Twenty men, however, were rescued a week later, having survived in one of the galleries; one of these died on rescue.

At Berlin, a wax bust recently bought as the work of Leonardo da Vinci was examined by Röntgen rays to test the correctness of a theory put forth by Mr. Cooksey in the Times that it was really the work of R. C. Lucas, an English sculptor, who made up his busts round a core of foreign material. A core was eventually found, but the examination was regarded as indecisive. The question led to much controversy.

14. The Messageries Maritimes steamer La Seyne, for Singapore, sank near Pulo Sauh, Riou Straits, after collision with the British India liner Onda; 101 lives lost, including seven European passengers and six European ship's officers.

15. The Court of Common Council approved by 95 to 61 the recommendation by the Bridge House Estates Committee of a new bridge across the Thames opposite St. Paul's at a cost of 1,646,9831. and the reconstruction of Southwark Bridge at a cost of 261,0007.

The Copley medal of the Royal Society was awarded to Dr. G. W. Hill, for researches in mathematical astronomy; the Royal medals to Professor A. E. Love and Major Ronald Ross, for researches respectively into the theory of elasticity and malaria; the Davy Medal to Sir James Dewar, for researches at low temperature; the Hughes Medal to Dr. R. T. Glazebrook, for researches on electrical standards.

15-27. Visit of the King of Portugal to England. (See English History, Chapter V.)

16. At the invitation of the British Government, an international Committee met at the Foreign Office to consider the construction of a map of the world on the scale of sixteen miles to the inch.

- Pope Pius X. celebrated his Episcopal jubilee.

18-23. Volcanic eruption in Teneriffe; one village abandoned; no loss of life.

19. At Rouy, France, M. Paulhan flew to a height of 1,200 ft.; Mr. Latham reached 1,320 ft.

20. The Eastern Missouri, U.S., Circuit Court held that the Standard Oil Company was an illegal combination in restraint of trade under the Sherman Anti-Trust Law.

22. Announcement that Sir W. J. Thompson, M.D., was appointed Registrar-General for Ireland.

The Croydon Town Council rejected, by 29 votes to 25, a street improvement scheme involving the destruction of the Whitgift Hospital. 24. At Oxford, Mr. Balfour delivered the Romanes Lecture on 66 Questionings of Criticism and Beauty."

27. The headings of the Transandine tunnel between Argentina and Chile were broken through and the first piercing of the Andes completed.

29. Opening of the street subways on the north side of Blackfriars Bridge.

30. The House of Lords adopted Lord Lansdowne's resolution by 350 to 75 and threw out the Finance Bill. (See English History, Chapter V.)

In Westminster Abbey, the Rev. Walter Andrews, D.D., was consecrated as Bishop in Hokkaido, the Rev. W. Banister, D.D., as Bishop in Kwangsi and Hunan, the Rev. Arthur Lee, D.D., as Bishop in KiuShiu, and the Rev. C. T. Abraham, D.D., as Bishop Suffragan of Derby, dio. Southwell.

DECEMBER.

1. Official announcement that Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Knyvett Wilson would succeed Sir John Fisher as First Sea Lord on the retirement on January 25, 1910, of the latter, who would remain, at the request of the Government, a member of the Committee of Imperial Defence.

2. Mr. Asquith's resolution asserting the rights of the Commons carried after debate by 349 to 134. (See English History, Chapter V.) The Circulating Libraries Association announced their intention not to circulate scandalous or improper books. (See post, Literature.) 2-3. A violent westerly gale with heavy rains caused great damage in the South of England and the Midlands. The Isle of Man mail steamer Ellan Vannin, from Ramsey for Liverpool, foundered while entering the Mersey, either from collision with an unknown vessel or overwhelmed by heavy seas; the crew of twenty-one and twelve pas

sengers were all lost. The steamer Thistlemor foundered off the North Devon coast; nineteen lives were lost.

3. Official announcement that Mr. R. R. Cherry, M.P., AttorneyGeneral for Ireland, was appointed to be a Lord Justice of Appeal in Ireland, vice Lord Justice FitzGibbon deceased; Mr. Redmond Barry, Solicitor-General for Ireland, to succeed Mr. Cherry as AttorneyGeneral, and Mr. C. O'Connor, K.C., to succeed Mr. Barry as SolicitorGeneral for Ireland.

Parliament prorogued. (See English History, Chapter V.)

- A ballot of the Federation of the Master Cotton Spinners' Association resulted in the decision to continue short time (40 hours per week instead of 55) in the American section of the trade till February 28, 1910.

6. At Birmingham Assizes, the action of Cadbury Brothers, the wellknown cocoa manufacturers, against the Standard for libel, resulted in a verdict for the plaintiffs, damages one farthing. The Standard, on November 26, 1908, had attacked Messrs. Cadbury for continuing to purchase slave-grown cocoa from Principe and San Thomé after the disclosures made by Mr. Nevinson in 1904-5. It appeared in evidence that Messrs. Cadbury had themselves instituted inquiries at considerable expense between 1901 and 1908, and that Sir Edward Grey, who gave evidence, had recommended them in 1906 to await the result of negotiations with the Portuguese Government, but they had not actually discontinued the use of slave-grown cocoa till January, 1909.

Mr. J. E. King, Bedford Grammar School, appointed Headmaster of Clifton College, vice the Rev. A. A. David, appointed to Rugby.

7. The Report of the Joint Committee of the Lords and Commons on the congestion of business in the King's Bench Division recommended the immediate appointment of two new Judges, the permanence of the arrangement being left to Parliament for decision.

In cross-actions between French's Garage and Motor Works Ltd., and Lord Curzon of Kedleston, in the King's Bench Division, Lord Curzon was awarded 100l. for personal injuries and 155l. for damages to his car in a collision near Egham in September, 1908.

In the Admiralty Division of the High Court before Mr. Justice Bargrave Deane, an inquiry originally held at Malta into the loss of the Ellerman steamship Sardinia on November 25, 1908 (see ANNUAL REGISTER, Chronicle, 1908) was re-heard. The cause of fire was found to be the introduction of burning matter down a ventilator by Moorish pilgrims when cooking. The authorised number of passengers had been exceeded.

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At Hamburg, a gasometer exploded in the free port, and set fire to another; about thirteen persons killed, over eighty injured, some fatally.

9. At Braintree, Essex, Messrs. Courtauld's silk factory was burnt down; damage, 100,000l.

10. Caprington Coal Mine, near Kilmarnock, was flooded owing to a subsidence of soil caused by a sudden thaw combined with heavy rains; ten men were drowned.

10. The Nobel Peace Prize was divided between Baron d'Estournelles de Constant, a French Senator, and M. Beernaert, sometime Belgian Premier.

11. At Christie's, 126 portraits of the Sheffield family were sold for 16,7271.; that by Hoppner of Anne, third wife of the first Earl, brought 2,800 guineas.

The annual Rugby football match between Oxford and Cambridge Universities, at Queen's Club, was won by Oxford by four goals, five tries to one try. An Association football match between England and Holland, at Stamford Bridge, was won by England by nine goals to one.

13. At Buckingham Palace, the King presented the Albert Medal of the second class to Thomas Lewis, a lad of sixteen, who had helped at great risk to extricate a man buried among the timber collapsed in the Newport Dock disaster. (See ante, July 2.)

It was officially announced that the King had extended the qualification of the Edward Medal (instituted October, 1907, for acts of gallantry in mines and quarries) to such acts in industrial employment generally, and had established the King's Police Medal for merit or courage displayed by policemen or firemen in the performance of their duties.

14. Mr. W. M. Geldart, of Trinity College, Oxford, elected Vinerian Professor of English Law at Oxford, vice Professor A. V. Dicey, resigned.

15. At a meeting of the Senate of London University a letter was read from Mr. Otto Beit, announcing that in place of the projected Institute of Medical Sciences for which his late brother, Mr. Alfred Beit, had left 50,000l., he proposed to increase the fund to 215,000l. to establish Beit Memorial Fellowships of 250l. annually for three years, open to qualified persons of both sexes and of European descent, for medical research.

17. Death of King Leopold II. (See Foreign History, Chapter IV.) A Rugby football Dublin University team beat an Oxford University team at Dublin by eleven to eight points.

20. The Report of the Law of Copyright Committee, appointed to examine the legal changes necessary to bring the law of the United Kingdom into harmony with the Berlin Copyright Convention of 1908, recommended protection to architecture by the prohibition of copying buildings, the assimilation of rights as to lectures, sermons, and speeches to those of dramatic authors, the extension of the term of protection to life and fifty years after death, and protection to the authors of musical works against the adaptation of their works to performance by mechanical means, and against such performance. There were some dissentients.

- At Clapham, a fire broke out and spread rapidly in the large drapery and furnishing shops of Messrs. Arding and Hobbs, an electric lamp being broken in the window in proximity to various celluloid articles; the building, crowded with Christmas shoppers, was speedily emptied, but eight lives were lost. The premises opposite were seriously damaged; the total loss exceeded 500,000l.

21. Announcement that Sir Edward Strachey, Treasurer of H.M. Household, had been appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, Mr. Dudley Ward, M.P., succeeding him as Treasurer of the Household.

-The Council of Copenhagen University reported that Dr. Cook's documents were insufficient proof that he had reached the North Pole, and that his report to the Special Commission was utterly inadequate in its information. Statements had previously been published in New York that Dr. Cook's alleged observations had been concocted for him by a sea-captain and a pilot whom he had refused to pay.

The House of Lords dismissed unanimously the appeal of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants against the decision of the Court of Appeal that a Trade Union could not lawfully apply its funds to the payment of members of Parliament. (See ANNUAL REGISTER, Chronicle, Nov. 28, 1908.)

21-22. Severe gales, with snowstorms in the North of England and North Wales and floods in the Midlands, South Wales, and elsewhere. 22. Official announcement that Mr. H. J. Gladstone, M.P., Home Secretary, was to be the first Governor-General of South Africa.

At Yarmouth the Britannia Pier Pavilion was burnt down; damage, 25,000l. Near Rothesay, the Kyles of Bute hydropathic establishment was burnt; damage, 30,000l.

23. Serious floods reported at Oporto and in the valley of the Douro, Portugal, in North-Western Spain, and in the valley of the Shannon.

24. The American Explorers' Club reported adversely to Dr. Cook's claim to have ascended Mount McKinley, Alaska, and cancelled his membership.

25. At Tchersko, near Pardubitz, Bohemia, eleven persons were killed and twenty injured in a railway collision.

25-26. Severe snowstorms in the Eastern United States.

28. Final Report of the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways. A Majority Report, signed by eleven Commissioners unreservedly and by five with reserves, after an exhaustive review of the history and present state of English and Scottish canals and waterways, recommended the appointment of a Board of three or five paid Waterways Commissioners to review the subject and submit a scheme to the Development Commission for the acquisition and improvement, at a total cost (excluding that of acquisition) of 17,533,9107., of the group known as 66 the Cross," connecting the Midlands with London and the seaboard. Three Commissioners contested these recommendations.

29. The centenary of Gladstone's birth was celebrated in Great Britain and various foreign countries. Many wreaths were deposited on the tomb in Westminster Abbey and the monument in the Strand, among the latter a silver wreath brought by a Bulgarian deputation. Speeches were made by the Lord Chancellor and others at the Westminster Palace Hotel and by Sir Algernon West and Siz Carruthers Gould at the National Liberal Club. There were celebrations also at Athens, Sofia, Belgrade, and Capetown.